The Lodge in the Forest

She said goodnight, gathered her stuff from the van and headed to her room which was coincidentally next to Holden's. Oh Jules, she just couldn't leave things alone could she? Poor Marty. He was stuck next to the happy couple. He wouldn't get much sleep tonight. Unpacking her belongings methodically, Dana placed her night stuff on the bed. Looking for her toothbrush and absently brushing her hair at the same time she came across a pack of earplugs she'd packed in case of emergencies. Aha! She should give them to Marty, it might help him sleep.
The red head changed into some corridor- appropriate pjs, which weren't really much more than a t-shirt and track pants, grabbed her towel and wash-bag and the earplugs and headed to the bathroom. Someone was in it already, or rather two someones. She could hear the giggling and muffled thumping of various body parts hitting the walls of the shower cubicle. Great. She rolled her eyes and made a u-turn back to Marty's room, knocking on the door. There was no answer. She knocked again.

"Marty?" Still no answer. Maybe he had gone to bed already. She turned to go when the door opened and Holden poked his head out.

"Oh! Holden! I'm sorry, I thought this was Marty's room. Sorry to bother you!"

"No problem, is everything ok?" He pulled the door a little wider, revealing his very naked torso. A very naked, very attractively muscled torso. Dana felt herself flush and opened her mouth to give an explanation but nothing came out. Wow. Okay. Words would be really handy right now.
Holden was fighting a smile, amusement leaking into his dark blue eyes.

"Are you ok?"

Dana ran a hand helplessly through her hair and smiled, eyes earnestly apologising to replace the lack of actual words.

"Yeah, yeah. Do you know where...?"

Holden allowed a grin to get out this time and pointed down the corridor to the door next to Kurt and Jules'. God, you'd think she'd be capable of navigating her way around four rooms. She nodded at Holden, thanked him with a thumbs up and walked quickly to Marty's door, knocking a little frantically.

A few seconds passed, so she knocked again and this time there was a scuffle of footsteps and Marty eased the door open, his hair haphazardly over his face, the bags more pronounced than ever in the dull lights of the cabin. He looked exhausted. She immediately felt bad and began apologising before she could even explain why she was there.

Marty's eyebrows came together and he squinted at her, eventually pulling his hair out of his face so he could focus on her. She was so adorable with her curling auburn hair and mesmerising blue eyes, towel thrown over one shoulder, various girl-implements clutched in her pale hands as she brandished something at him. It suddenly occurred to him he should focus on what she was saying. Something about earplugs and sleeping. Oh yeah, he was next to Kurt and Jules. Dana had a good point.

"Earplugs." He echoed after she had finished apologising profusely and he could reply. He took the small packet she was waving like a sparkler in the air around his chin.

"That's so very awesome of you, my ears will thank you tomorrow. Also my mental state may stay...relatively intact. Thanks, Dana."

"No worries!"

"G'night. Sleep well."

"Goodnight Marty."

Dana breathed a sigh of relief when he closed the door. She was such a klutz sometimes, it was a wonder people didn't lose their patience more often with her rambling and appalling conversation making. She readjusted her towel and went back to her room to wait for the shower. She was petty tired, she could feel her muscles begging her to lie down but she sat on the end of the bed instead and watched the corridor for signs of Jules and Kurt stumbling back to their room.

Ten minutes passed and Dana began to worry she was going to pass out on the bed so she got up and joined the two man queue outside the bathroom. Or one man, really, as Marty was asleep, sat sprawled against the wall.

"Good company you got there." She said jokingly. Holden, who was clearly determined not to wear a shirt, was leaning casually against the plaster, towel slung over one stupidly perfect shoulder. A grin spread across his face.

"Yeah I know."

"Are those guys still in there?"

"Yeah..."

"Shouldn't we ask them to...get a move on?"

"I guess..." They both looked at the closed door then back at each other. It wasn't worth the effort really. God only knows what they were doing in there. Dana debated internally for a moment, coming to the conclusion that Jules and Kurt really were being selfish by hogging the only bathroom and knocked on the door.

"Jules? Kurt?" No answer. Just a lot of giggling to the baseline of running water. She knocked again, louder.

"Jules? Are you guys alive in there?" Still nothing. Then suddenly Marty appeared next to her. He took no quarter with his knocking and rapped mercilessly, following this with:

"Guys! Guys! Some other people would like to use the bathroom too, you know! We want to get clean and you only want to get dirty! You have a bed for all that..." His eyes met Dana's and he twisted his mouth into an bashful one-sided smile, "Jazz..." He finished awkwardly. There was some banging of doors and squeaking of bare feet on tiles and Jules came tumbling out, looking surprisingly clean if a little bit rosy-cheeked.

"Alright, alright, there's no need to get your panties in a twist!" She proclaimed, almost falling into Marty, who stepped back reflexively about the same time his hands came out to stop her.

"Apart from you, Marty, you definitely need your panties twisted juuust a little bit." She leered into his personal space, all mussed blonde hair and fiery blue eyes. Marty's expression was some sort of combination of surprised and confused as hell. Dana reached over to usher her away just as Kurt blundered out of the bathroom door and scooped Jules, shrieking like a chimpanzee, into his arms and down the corridor.

"I'm so happy you gave me those earplugs." Uttered Marty fervently, as the screaming continued into the bedroom.

"Me too." Dana agreed. "Who...was next in line for the bathroom?"

"You. Go." Said the blonde, pushing her into the shower stall affectionately.

"Hey! No way! I was last in the queue-."

Marty shut the door in her face, chuckling to himself when she pushed feebly to get it open.
"You guys are jerks!" She shouted through the wood with one last shove at the door.

They were both laughing now so she gave up, locked the door and pulled off her pjs angrily. Why did they always have to be so macho about this shit, they were here first fair and square! Fine, well she was going to be quick. She turned on the water, washed her hair and body in record time, wrapped the towel snugly around her and stalked out to both boys stood chatting in the corridor.
"I'm done." She said shortly, turned and practically fell into bed - barely having the energy to drag her pjs back on before she felt sleep overcome her.

The next morning came bright and early - thankfully quite warm and sunny despite the colder climate. Dana meandered into the kitchen, feeling surprisingly well-rested and content as she filled the kettle.
"Dana!"

"Morning Marty! Coffee?"

"Is that the crappy instant kind that tastes like regurgitated dog testicles?"

She nodded.

"Pour me a cup."

She laughed and got out another mug from the cupboard.

"Sugar? Milk?"

He nodded, thumbs up.

"Thank you very much, my good friend."

Something suddenly occurred to the red-head as she filled the cups, watching Marty stare intently out of the window, the sunlight filtering through onto his figure, allowing her to notice his freshly shaven face and more clean and ordered- looking hair which looked more artfully messy than unkempt.

"Marty, what colour are your eyes? I can't figure it out." Marty was jerked out of his reverie as this random question and he turned to her, surprised.

"My eyes? Uh..." He pushed at his hair self-consciously, avoiding her gaze as the tops of her cheekbones coloured slightly and she hurriedly made up the coffee and shoved it at him.
"I guess they're...green? Blue? Kind of blue-y green?" He looked up to meet her eyes, knowing she was probably going to study them now. Hers were just blue. No random weird colours there. She smiled, her cheeks dimpling.

"They look more green to me."

At this point Jules appeared in a t-shirt and nothing else, hair attractively tousled, eyes shining. You didn't have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out what she had been doing.

"Morning guys!"

They chorused greetings back to her and sat around the table to plan their day. Basically they decided to go to the lake for a bit then start partying. It was a pretty foolproof plan. They all changed into their costumes and grabbed a cooler and headed down.

Marty refused point-blank to swim, donning a long-sleeved top and jeans and sitting on the pier with his feet in the water, joint in one hand, beer in the other. Kurt wasn't going to be outdone, however, and tried to pull him in several times, eventually succeeding - they managed to drag his shirt off with him protesting loudly and trying to hold his joint above the water. Everyone was in hysterics. Dana swam over and grabbed the joint off him, feeling silly and childish, and put it to her lips, watching a look of shock pass over his face as she took a long drag, kicking with her legs to keep her head above water.

"Smoke?" She asked innocently, and he narrowed his eyes at her, trying to dislodge Kurt and plough through the water with his beer clutched in one hand. She moved away tauntingly and he eventually stopped to down the beer. Dropping the bottle, he swam determinedly after her and Dana realised she was in trouble.

"Hey - hey - aaaah!" Marty water-tackled her, taking her by the wrist and wrestling the joint off her as she attempted feebly to kick him away. The joint didn't survive. The anger in the blonde's eyes soon dissolved into laughter as he held up the mushy joint and Dana joined in, splashing him playfully. He spluttered indignantly and grabbed her ankles, pulling her under as she screamed. They fought for a few minutes, then Marty called a ceasefire and retreated, shouting abuse at them all the way to the pier. There, he pulled himself onto the ledge, swore at Kurt and opened another beer, downing it in record time.

"You're all unfeeling, selfish, primitive sons of bitches you know that?!" With that he lay back in the sun.